Interfaith or Interfake

Friday, March 15th, 2013

Q Society of Australia Inc. is questioning the real motives behind the “IREA Islamic Peace Conference”. The organisers were hoping to welcome 20,000 paying visitors at the Melbourne showgrounds this weekend from 15 to 17 March. However, instead of large numbers of visitors, the event is attracting increasing controversy and criticism, now even from within the Islamic and Interfaith community.

Q Society was approached by unnamed sources and given recordings from IREA which are painting an unfavourable picture of this event and its organiser. It appears chief organiser, Mr Waseem Ravzi, head of the fundamentalist Islamic Research and Education Academy (IREA) has held fund raiser dinners and collected substantial amounts of money in the Islamic community under the pretext that a certain sheikh from Mecca in Saudi Arabia is coming to Melbourne to address the faithful. This sheikh, Mr Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, is famous within the Sunni Muslim world for his stirring recitation the Koran, quasi the Pavarotti of Islam. For observant Sunnis to see and hear this famous sheikh is a big draw card. In the West sheikh Al Sudais is better known for his divisive and repulsive sermons.

As it now comes to light, both the Saudi embassy and Immigration Minister O’Connor confirm no visit of Sheikh Al-Sudais is planed; no visa application has been made. Other radical sheiks listed on the event fliers may likewise not appear in person, but by video link only. This is a disappointment for observant Muslims who either donated or bought tickets.

Spokesman for Q Society, Mr Andrew Horwood points out that in the view of Q Society freedom of speech is an absolute, even for Islamic hate preachers, but this event is sailing under a false flag and is misrepresented by its organisers in advertisements. It should take place in a mosque or Islamic centre, and be correctly flagged as Islamic missionary event.

Despite promoting peace and harmony between the religions, not a single non-Muslim or female speaker is listed under the IREA event. All speakers are Muslim males. Last night a Christian group, which had hired an info stall at the venue to offer their material to the faithful, was told to stay away because IREA cannot guarantee the safety of the Christians.

But these are not the only problems unsettling this event; according to an unnamed source, only one quarter of planned info booths at the showgrounds have been rented out. Most of the sponsor logos on the IREA website have disappeared and to make matters worse, of the 1,000 volunteer missionaries merely 300 have attended the last training meeting last Saturday. After Mr Ravzi allegedly descended into cursing and screaming at them, a number of the remaining volunteers are said to have left the training event in bewilderment.

Q Society took an interest in this event after a number of commercial operators, state premiers and even a federal minister made the recent Australia tour of democratically elected Dutch MP Geert Wilders very difficult. In contrast radical Islamic preachers and representatives from feudal theocratic regimes seem to find Australian venues and businesses ready to attend their every need.In the opinion of Q Society’s deputy president, Mrs Debbie Robinson, it is a sign of times when Australian icons from the Sydney Opera house, Melbourne Cup to our major footy arenas, and now even our national airline Qantas, all succumb to the lure of the Islamic petrodollar.

Q Society will hold a press conference at 11AM this Saturday in Melbourne’s CBD for interested members of the media.We will make available an audio recording from one of the IREA training sessions documenting the true intent of the organisers and discuss our concerns with running Islamic missionary under the disguise of peace and interfaith.

Members of the media are invited to register by sending their name and contact details.

Contact Profile

Q Society of Australia Inc

Q Society of Australia Inc is a secular association supported by people from different ethnicities and all walks of life. We oppose divisive multiculturalism and racism and lobby for an integrated multiethnic Australia based on classic European values and Judaeo-Christian and Humanistic values. The society is run nationally by volunteers since 2010 as a not-for-profit organisation and is not aligned with any political party. We oppose the Islamisation of our society and attempts to silence critical information and debate under the pretence of multicultural tolerance.